Short Sale & Foreclosure for San Fernando Valley & Ventura County - October 2008

Here are short sales and foreclosures as a percentage of total sales for October 2008.

Here is the San Fernando Valley:



Here is Ventura County:

October has been the best month of the year for sales. Dramatically so for the SFV relative to other months. Though sales are still weak historically. But as we can see from the charts it is because the banks are continuing to stay motivated and move inventory. I think REO activity is higher than the stats suggest (maybe as much as 3-4%) because there are agents who simply do not know how to set the REO flag in the MLS. It seems much more of an issue in the San Fernando Valley. However the reports come out next week for sales as a whole, this part of the State is trending upwards at the expense of price. We will see if the wholesale loan modification talk has any effect on the market. Anything that affects the continuing downward movement in price will stop and most likely reverse any sales growth we have seen so far. Sales have only been so "good" because the sellers (mostly banks) are continuing to cut price until they get an offer.